MIMF

The fret can be glued, at least temporarily. Stew-Mac sells a special tool to recrimp the tangs on a fret to make it hold better. That obviously won't do you any good in the short term, but you might be able to hold the tang in a vise sideways and dimple the tang with a punch and hammer to achieve a...

Amy is doing great! Just saw her last month at a jam. She is still repairing instruments by day and playing by night, crazy as ever and completely recovered from the surgery.

This "Reclaimed Materials Challenge" thread was about a contest we held a few years ago, which only went for a very specific length of time. This specific discussion was only closed because the limited time nature of the competition, not because of lack of interest. If the topic interests ...

Actually, not sure now. The finer threads will hold better, so it will probably be a little harder to turn, and therefore it will stay in tune better, but a quarter turn on either should change the pitch the same amount. With geared tuners, you definitely get finer pitch resolution, but I don't thin...

The coarse threads should hold just fine, but the finer threads will make the instrument a lot easier to tune.

That link does not appear to work, Allyson.

Coolest place on the planet to play!

The MIMF actually hosted a violin building class on-line a few years back and many nice instruments resulted from it. Building a violin is certainly possible for any competent instrument builder. The instruments are smaller, but the majority of the skills to make one are the same as for many other i...

That's pretty much what Ike said - replacing the entire bellows saves time and works better. Just may be cost prohibitive for some people.

Another cheap recommendation from past user posts is to look at kite making supplies, with www.IntoTheWind.com being frequently mentioned. That being said, I think they only carry round rods, in about the same price range.

Space and other considerations prevent me from storing plans flat, so I opt for rolled in shipping tubes. Since most plans were mailed to me, I have a number of triangular shaped shipping tubes that stack nicely on top of one another, alternating directions, if you have something to tie them all tog...

Not relevant to this discussion, but we have a CAD section that would love to hear about how you modeled this!

Steel wool unfortunately oxidizes and rusts easily. I use, and would recommend, the copper scouring pads you can find in almost any kitchen department. They conduct heat really well (better than steel) and do not oxidize. My pipe still has the original copper stuffing from decades ago.

When I looked at the closeups it almost looks to me like someone took a ballpoint pen and drew loops, maybe like they were scratching something out on a paper they had laid on the surface. The grooves seem uniformly round and loop at the ends. But other than steaming, I can't help much with fixing it.

Violin makers often use an ebonizing stain (some kind of India ink) on fingerboards to make them uniformly black. I have an old bottle from International Violin, but I think other luthier supply houses carry it, too. Search for fingerboard stain or fretboard stain. I have only used it for fingerboar...

Can't help with the bass questions, but congratulations on the new addition!

For those not keeping track, today (July 5) is the MIMF's 26th birthday! In our more active days, and long before COVID, we used to have live, virtual birthday parties including all manner of virtual chocolate (founder Deb's favorite food) treats, from chocolate cakes to chocolate beer to just plain...

Nice to have you stop by, Ike! And thanks for the valuable resource.

Now embed a small magnet in the back center of the rocker piece and it won't tend to fall off.

Welcome to the Forum, Murray! There have actually been quite a few new members the past several years, but many prefer to remain in the shadows.